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Help Available For Caretakers Of Feral Cats

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: December 26, 2008

TAMPA - They are untouched by human hands but willing to get close enough for a handout.

There are people who love them enough to care for them, if from a distance.

But there is a major problem - cats reproduce rapidly.

Hillsborough County is home to an estimated 200,000 feral cats, many of which end up at Hillsborough County Animal Services, where they are euthanized because they are wild and not eligible for adoption.

Feline Folks, a nonprofit group in Sun City Center, has started Operation Feral Fix, or OFF, to help combat the problem in southern Hillsborough.

In Tampa, Mission: MEOW, with a feral cat coordinator, helps guide caretakers to similar programs.

Caretakers trap the cats and bring them to designated clinics to be sterilized and then released back into the community.

The goal is to reduce the free-roaming cat population humanely, OFF co-founder Judy Stimson said.

"For $10, we'll spay or neuter them, give them a rabies shot, treat them for fleas, if needed, and give them an ear tip," which identifies them as having been sterilized.

Mission: MEOW (Managing and Ending Overpopulation Wisely) works under the Humane Society of Tampa Bay. Its coordinator directs caretakers to clinics offering the same type of trap-neuter-release programs, group President Tara Hood said.

"We help condo associations and businesses that are having problems with feral cat issues," she said. "We direct them to individual trappers that work with feral cats."

For information, call OFF at (813) 944-7651 or e-mail Mission: MEOW at missionmeowtampa @yahoo.com.

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 865-1566.

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